


He Kindly Stopped for Me

by greatveiledbear



Series: Till Dakota Do Us Part [1]
Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: (Not Actually Unrequited Love), M/M, Started with a conversation on the discord and it got away from me, Unrequited Love, idk if death counts as an original character but that's how I'm tagging it, merry christmas here's a fic about Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 07:52:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13162572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greatveiledbear/pseuds/greatveiledbear
Summary: For once, Dakota has no interest in the food in front of him. He pushes the plate away and folds his arms. “Well?”The stranger steeples their fingers and leans across the table towards him. “I want you to stop playing with my toys.”Dakota has a chat with Death.





	He Kindly Stopped for Me

It’s his day off, and Vinnie Dakota has just finished his BLT sandwich and is deciding whether to spring for dessert when someone sits down on the other side of the small diner booth and folds their hands. Dakota thinks for a moment that it’s Cavendish, who’d taken off that morning to run his own errands and get some alone time on his day off, but it isn’t. It’s a stranger, clad entirely in black.

“Uh,” says Dakota. “Can I help you?” 

The waitress comes by to give Dakota his check, and the stranger waves a hand at her and places an order for two slices of coconut cream pie. “On me,” they say, before turning back to Dakota. “We need to talk.”

“About what?” asks Dakota. He wonders if they’re from the bureau. 

“About your partner,” says the stranger. They haven’t blinked since they sat down. “About Balthazar Cavendish.” 

Dakota furrows his brow. Once, before he was paired up with Cavendish, his former partner got her fingers sliced off on a mission and Dakota had to carry them until they got her to a doctor. Something about the stranger makes him feel like he’s holding those fingers again. 

“What do you want with Cavendish?” he asks.

The stranger tilts their head, eyeing Dakota like they’re sizing him up. There is something indescribable about them. Not indescribably beautiful, or indescribably ugly, just indescribable. Dakota can see them sitting in front of him, but he can’t tell if they have a gender, or a race, or what those things might be if they possess them. Dakota has the unsettling feeling that were he to meet this stranger twenty minutes from now, he wouldn’t be able to recognize them. Or possibly even see them. Looking at them is like looking at a living person without skin--it feels like he’s seeing something that shouldn’t exist, something indescribably immense and yet intensely private. 

He swallows and meets their gaze as steadily as he can.

The stranger huffs a little, apparently displeased when Dakota doesn’t look away. They fold their hands again and start to say something, but they’re interrupted by the arrival of the pie. 

For once, Dakota has no interest in the food in front of him. He pushes the plate away and folds his arms. “Well?”

The stranger steeples their fingers and leans across the table towards him. “I want you to stop playing with my toys.”

Dakota blinks. “Excuse me?”

“Balthazar Cavendish is mine.” The stranger takes a dainty bite of pie and wipes their mouth with the napkin. “It’s time for you to stop keeping him from me. I’ve been patient with you for years now, but my tolerance of these antics is wearing thin. The next time Balthazar dies, you are to leave it be and let me have him.”

Dakota feels the blood rush to his face. “ _Excuse_ me?” he says again, anger roiling in his gut. He loves Cavendish with all his heart, but he would never claim that Cavendish belongs to him. 

“The next time Balthazar dies, you are to _leave it be_ ,” the stranger repeats, putting a condescending emphasis on the last three words. They take another bite of pie. “You should eat your dessert, Vinnie, it’s quite good.”

“I’m sorry, who the hell are you?” Dakota can feel his nails digging into his palms. He doesn’t know how the stranger knows about him saving Cavendish, or what claim they think they have on him. All Dakota knows was that he wants to slug them for even suggesting that Cavendish should die. 

The stranger sighs irritably and rolled their eyes. “Good heavens, you’re dim,” they say. “I can’t believe he puts up with you. Someone as bright and methodical as Balthazar with a lazy slob like you? I just don’t understand it.” 

Dakota tries not to react as the person said all the reasons he’s never told Cavendish how he feels aloud. “Why the fuck would you want Cavendish to die?” he snarls, feeling his voice catch. 

“Because I am head over heels in love with him.” The person flattens the whipped cream on their pie with their fork. “Something you, of all people, ought to understand.” 

Dakota tries to justify this in his mind, and then the person’s indescribability and the things they’re saying and the way their voice is more in his head than his ears suddenly falls into place. The truth hits him with a pang of fear like a blow to the face. 

“Oh,” Dakota says, his eyes widening. “ _Oh_. You’re the Grim Reaper.”

The being across the table snorts. “The Grim Reaper wishes he was me,” they say. “I’m much more than the Grim Reaper. I’m Death.” 

Dakota nods. “And you’re in love with Cavendish.”

“ _Now_ he gets it.” Death prods what remains of their pie with their fork. “You really should try this. Best pie I’ve had in a long time.”

Dakota leans back in his seat, his mind spinning. “I didn’t really think you were a person,” he admits. “Is this allowed? Can you really fall in love with a human?” 

“Who is there to stop me?” Death scrapes up the last of the pie crust. “It’s your fault I fell for him, you know. I really should thank you. If you hadn’t taken Balthazar away from me, I never would have noticed him. And now that you’ve set us up, I’d appreciate it if you would be a good man and leave him to someone who deserves him.” 

Dakota’s fist clenches around a handful of his tracksuit. “You think you deserve him?”

Death smirks. “More than you.” 

“Yeah, well, maybe you’re right,” says Dakota. “I don’t deserve him. But I’ll be damned if I’ll give him up for someone who calls him a toy. Especially if that means letting him die.” He looks Death square in the eyes. “So you can take your bribery pie and shove it up your ass.” 

Death holds Dakota’s gaze for a moment before glancing down, dabbing their mouth with the napkin. “I thought you might say that,” they sigh. “Oh well. Never say I didn’t ask you nicely first.” They push away their plate and stand up.

“So what now?” asks Dakota. “You going to kill me?”

Death tilts their head like they’re considering it. “No,” they say. “No, not yet. As long as I don’t take you, once I get him I’ll have Balthazar all to myself. He can’t outrun me forever.” They look at Dakota and smile. “Maybe I’ll even wait to take you, leave you wandering the land of the living while Balthazar and I spend eternity together in bliss. Trust me, Vinnie. When it’s your time, you’ll wish you hadn’t pissed me off.”

Dakota swallows his fear and gives Death two middle fingers. “I’m not going to let you get him, asshole. Not while I’m alive.”

“You’re so young and innocent,” says Death with a chuckle. “It’s adorable that you think you can beat me.” They pat Dakota’s cheek. Their hand is freezing cold. 

“I’ll break that fighting spirit sooner or later, Vinnie,” they say, smiling. “I always win.” And without another word, they turn and exit the diner, leaving Dakota sitting alone in front of a congealing slice of coconut cream pie, his stomach in knots.

**Author's Note:**

> Idea of Death having a crush on Cavendish comes from the MML discord. I just took off running with it.


End file.
